Portugal’s House: A Living Facade of 4,500 Plants Adorns Green Home in Travessa de Patrocinio

Four stories of aromatic plants adorn the face of Portugal's House in Travessa de Patrocinio. A deviation from Lisbon's normal gabled home style, this rectangular tower is unified by a single staircase and organized around a central courtyard. Designed by Luís Rebelo de Andrade, Tiago Rebelo de Andrade and Manuel Cachão Tojal, the single family residence is the talk of the town thanks to its leafy green face.

An ordinary 248 square meter tower could easily lack all of the necessary daylighting to keep it vibrant and fresh if carelessly designed, but the Travessa de Patrocinio is brimming with light thanks to the four story home’s arrangement around a central core. Both the garage and the technical facilities are kept at ground floor for easy access, while the second floor is devoted to social areas.

Everywhere there is a concrete connection between the interior and the exterior, which is dominated by the 100 square meter vertical garden that boasts a total of 4,500 plants made up of 25 Iberian and Mediterranean plant species that require very little irrigation to survive. In addition to insulating the home and scrubbing the air clean, the lush facade gives off a wonderful aroma on every floor.